Climate Cooperation

With the ever-rising global warming, the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region is now facing an existential threat.  The HKH houses the world’s largest volume of glacier ice and snow. However, the glaciers are melting rapidly, due mainly to anthropogenic activities that have contributed to a warming world with each passing year.  The Himalayan range covers 2,400 km within the 3,500 km of the HKH region, while Nepal’s Himalayas occupy 800 km of the central section of this range. This underscores both Nepal’s importance and vulnerabilities. The world’s tallest mountain – Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) - and other famous peaks are located in Nepal. These snowy mountains are a great source of life and livelihood for people. But climate change has endangered their existence. Increasing incidents of glacial 

lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have put the communities living downstream at risk.

Last month, a flash flood in Rasuwa caught the people off guard, resulting in a significant loss of life and property. The reason behind this disaster was the sudden drainage of supraglacial lakes in Tibet, China. This particular event is an eye-opener for the nations to forge cooperation in minimising disasters because the Himalayas straddle multiple borders. Various national, regional and international events are taking place to tackle ecological and social challenges besetting the HKH region. Against this backdrop, the Hindu Kush Himalaya Parliamentarians’ Meet-2025 that concluded in Kathmandu on Tuesday sought deeper regional cooperation to this end.

The two-day meet had the theme of “Sustaining Nature, Empowering People.” About 100 parliamentarians and representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan discussed the pressing issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution, and concurred on collective solutions to them, according to a news report published in this daily the other day.  The conference has issued a joint declaration, emphasising solidarity to overcome the cross-border nature of environmental threats.  The HKH region is reeling from the climate crisis, air pollution, and biodiversity loss. The legislators from the region can play their role in framing appropriate policies and laws to address the impending climate crisis. It is imperative to set up an HKH Parliamentarians’ Forum to pursue dialogue, promote science and share experiences and best practices among HKH countries regarding the impacts of climate change and strategies adopted to mitigate them.

A study shows that the HKH nations require around US$740 billion annually for both adaptation and mitigation. As pooling this volume of funds is challenging, they should make a collective resolve to invest in the region while urging the international community at the same time. Parliamentarians should review the development laws and plans and revise them in a way that supports building climate-resilient structures. As the slogan of the lawmakers' conclave suggests, the people's participation in disaster mitigation programmes is vital to translate strategy into action. The community that has been directly affected by climate change should be part of broader climate action. 

Their insights and practices should guide the lawmakers in formulating plans and a legal framework. The lawmakers' conference organised by the Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resource Committee of the Federal Parliament is expected to play a catalytic role in handling the environmental, economic and social problems of the HKH region, also known as the third pole. A higher level of political commitment is equally important to sort out the issues raised by the declaration. The political leadership must work in tandem to create a resilient, inclusive and sustainable future for the region.